camping – Fooyah – Ian Parish

August 31 2025

Mach Loop And Things

I spent some time with my offspring in Wales over the summer. We wanted to go see metal birds flying close to the ground and so took ourselves to the Mach Loop. The Mach Loop or LFA7 is a designated low flying area for military aircraft in Wales. There is an area where they can go lower than 250 feet and that’s called LFA7(T), the T is for tactical but that is slightly south of the Mach Loop. A lot of people think the Mach Loop is so called because of how speed relative to the local speed of sound is measured in Mach, but that is not the case. The Mach Loop is named for the town at one of the entrances to the loop: Machynlleth.

The first day of the trip was to drive to Wales and set up camp. Two Texans flew over at relatively low altitudes and that was nice. We were camping near the town of Dolgellau. Dolgellau looks quite large on the map and perhaps it is large for a Welsh town. It’s at the confluence of some A roads and on a river. The town itself has a few pubs, some restaurants and a single Co-Op. It’s very pretty.

The first full day in Wales we drove to Machynlleth to see what it was like and have breakfast. I booked some tickets for a tour of a mine and we headed to Castel y Bere which was marked on road signs. It was the ruins of a castle but it was such a lovely setting, miles from anywhere, sitting in a valley overlooking the lands, no phone signal, dodgy roads. “One of the most beautiful places I’ve been” was a comment from one of our party (not me). Driving to our afternoon activity we stopped briefly by Llyn Mwyngil for some photographs and then reached our destination of Corris. We had a tour of the old Corris slate mine – it was lovely and cool, the outside was pretty hot. The Barmouth called and we headed there. There was a pedestrian and railway bridge across the mouth of the river and so we walked on that.

Once we were bored of this view, which took quite a while we walked back over the bridge. A train came over the bridge which was pretty exciting. Then we headed back to the campsite via the Penmaenpool Toll Bridge, a wooden bridge crossing the river and one that I had to pay for the privilege of using.

The following day was a trip to what could be the place we use to see metal birds flying. I had studied maps and there are a couple of places that are suitable for observers. We had driven past one on the way to the campsite originally so this time we walked up the hill to get to know where we were going. It was a Sunday and so there was no chance of anything being in the air but it was good to check out the land before we actually did try and see planes. Then we went to the Dovey Valley Shooting Ground for a go at clay pigeon shooting. We also had lunch here. The less said about the clay shooting the better. I am a rifle target shooter and not particularly good at shooting flying clays (terrible actually).

The following daylight hours were spent driving to Llanberis, walking up Snowdon, walking down Snowdon and then driving back to the campsite. I couldn’t get parked to be able to walk the Pyg Track so Llanberis seemed the best chance. We also didn’t have the best clothing or footwear to be doing super adventurous routes up the mountain so the safest and busiest route seemed best. The weather was super sunny and clear pretty much all the way up the mountain, but for the forth time the summit was in cloud and I couldn’t see far. We ate at the café and I had a beer. Lots of people were coming up by train and then queuing to take a photo at the trig point at the absolute top of the mountain. It was a good achievement to walk to the top.

After a good night’s sleep we wanted to see Harlech Castle and so drove there. The closest car park was super busy with idiots trying to manoeuvre their massive cars to get out, so we drove past and looked at another car park. But, this one was down quite a hill and all of us decided that walking up a hill was not on the plan for a few hours and so we left. We had lunch at Llyn Trawsfynydd overlooking a couple of disused nuclear reactors. After that we went to watch metal birds. We parked at the crest of the road pass through the valley and climbed a little to a place known as Blywch. To be honest I think Blywch is just a word for “crest” or similar but in terms of birdwatching that’s what this place was known as. It was quite windy up the top and we found crevasses to sit and wait. There were other people up there and they had radios and aircraft trackers and all sorts so we spent our time listening to what they were saying.

It took two hours of waiting and so false starts with aircraft not quite making to our spot – we saw a Phenom in the distance. Then we had four F15s fly by, probably the same two twice. Then there were two Typhoons and a single Hawk. This was well worth it. The RAF planes were flying below us!

Our final day of being away from Kent involved us packing up and driving home. We did stop off for a little while at the RAF Museum at Cosford and we walked around enjoying the sites, but I think we all just wanted to get back to relax!

July 28 2025

New Foresting

I recently spent some time with the Legend camping in the New Forest area of the UK. The campsite was somewhere we had stayed before and so we knew the area – I think this helps with camping – a decent knowledge of where in the campsite is best for sun, toilet access and noise. The camping setup was pretty cool with rooftop tent and a gazebo thing or event shelter as I think it is formally known.

On the first full day down that way in Hampshire we went to Dorset to try and hunt for dinosaurs. Kimmeridge Bay called and we answered. There’s a short toll road down to the bay and then there is a pretty decent sized car park. Coffee was required from a caravan selling snacks and things and then we visited the Sea Life centre, except I don’t think it was called that. I used binoculars to look at the crabs close up and they were broadly terrifying. I have a pair of binoculars that can work from about 50cm to infinity – they are super special. The bay at Kimmeridge was interesting. There’s the UK’s first oil field pumping station, a slipway and loads of broken rocks from the small cliff that genuinely looks as though it’s going to slip into the sea at any time. We saw big cracks in the ground atop the cliffs and a reasonable distance back, it could be a warning sign that the whole thing is going to disappear.

After the bay we chose to go to Swanage. I wanted to see what this town looked like because judging by name only it doesn’t sound a great place to be. I think because it’s a combination of Swansea and Sewage. We parked on the sea front and tried to find something to eat. This proved more difficult that you would imagine because it was 1530 hours and Swanage doesn’t seem to think that is an appropriate time to fill our tummies. We tried a few places but they were either closed or the chef had just decided to stop for the day. We found a bakery that was open and ate some food sitting on the sea wall. I sat in bird shit. Out in the distance of the bay we could see a RN Wildcat helicopter practising winching people from boats – there was a RNLI boat out there from which they were raising people. That would be an excellent experience! I have to say that Swanage seemed a really lovely little place, there was even a dedicated sea swimming area with lifeguards.

The next day we drove to see the world’s tallest unreinforced concrete structure which is a tower built in the 1880s or so in the village of Sway. Every heard of Sway? No. You haven’t. Why? Because there isn’t a main road passing through it. To go to Sway you have to go to Sway. Not many people find it. Why would you? Unless you knew about the world’s tallest unreinforced concrete building. After staring at the tower which is literally someone’s home we found a lovely little café and ate food although we were close to the kitchen shut up shop time. This seems to be becoming a theme! After the café we walked a short distance to a cute little shop that sold loads of fine foods and drinks. Conversations were had with the owner and we discovered that the butchers opposite was rather renowned and people drive hours to buy food from it. We didn’t buy anything from the butchers because I don’t talk to people. We did buy stuff from the hamper shop.

When you fancy a nice hot breakfast bap try to make sure you don’t go to a Sainsbury’s just after they have moved their heated food section because you’ll find they won’t have turned on that section yet and you end up with unhappy people fed up at Sainsbury’s being disappointing twice in one week. We drove to Keyhaven, another one of those places I think you have to travel to because you won’t pass through it – a bit like Norfolk. The reason for a visit to Keyhaven was to catch a ferry (small ten person boat) to Hurst Castle. The castle was built to protect the Solent from attack which means it’s two miles out from the coast along a shingle spit. I’m sure the ferries are great fun but both our trips were made triggering by the company we had on board. Heading to the castle two people got on board with their large dogs. The dogs were fine but the people were annoying. The return journey was hampered by two people from the USA on board being very American. The castle was interesting, lots of spooky nooks and crannies, flood risks and no running drinking water. Electricity was provided by a large generator with an exhaust into the courtyard and toilets were fuelled with sea water, as were the taps. It’s an impressive piece of engineering. Such a shame it had to be built. We could easily see the Needles and the Isle Of Wight, the island was about 1200m away. There were lots of birds around, mainly swifts and they were feeding a lot.

On the return to mainland, I’m not sure it counts as being off the mainland though, we found a tapas bar, The Cave, in Millford on Sea. We got there five minutes before food stopped being served but they were willing to serve us. It was an interesting place set around the village green. The village seems to revolve around the green and that reminded me of my home village. I guess I was fortunate to grow up in what would be considered a classic village layout with cricket being played on the green and pubs and shops around that.

The final day was about packing away and journeying home back to Kent. I think there were some issues with Google Maps because it kept saying some major roads were shut but they weren’t. I wonder if people were messing around submitting “closed road” warnings for giggles. None of the overhead gantries along the main route had any information about road closures so we followed what should have been a standard route home. I say standard because I got distracted near the M3-M25 junction by an A380 flying into the clouds and so I would have had to make a very risky move to make the junction. I chose not to take that junction and I got sent around parts of south west London I’d not been to since 1995. There were real road closures closer to home which meant I had to find alternative routes across the river Medway. While heading to the “new” bridge I thought I’d fill the car up with petrol. I queued around the local Tesco but the queue was because the petrol station was being torn down to make a new one. The journey home was a test of patience really. But I got there.

September 2 2024September 2 2024

Adventuring Summer 2024

The Legend and I have spent some time away adventuring and generally enjoying being away from things. We stayed in Crowborough initially and investigated things around there. I had to do some car “repairs” as I broke part of the bottom of the car being slightly impatient. We visited Pooh Sticks Bridge on a rainy day, which did keep the riff-raff away. Then we also tried to find the source of the river Medway. This wasn’t that easy. I knew where the source was and it is a spring on some farmer’s land. We walked to the spot but then could only really see the bushes and ferns covering the spring. We could hear running water but could only make it out a little further downstream where there was a small bridge. It was all rather overgrown but it was pretty cool to be in that spot.

Source Of The River Medway - Trust Me — Source Of The River Medway – Trust Me

The Crowborough campsite was below part of the approach pattern for Gatwick airport. Many aircraft flew overhead and it was great tracking them on the phone. There was also an amazing sound some of them made when flying over. It was a strange howling sound that I think is something to do with their engines spooling down or flaps extending. I’m not sure but it was gorgeous.

We then travelled down to the New Forest. The campsite was positioned on an old RAF Base and we were set up at one of the aircraft dispersal points along the perry track. The campsite was busy but after a couple of days most people went home so it became quieter and calmer.

Geeses - The New Forest — Geeses – The New Forest

We visited the Bovington Tank museum and had a ride in a tracked vehicle, watched a tank battle show and saw plenty of tin cans that burn soldiers alive if hit. Later that day we drove around collecting new supplies for our camp. We had a day of cycling which was lovely. I had never really explored the New Forest and it was great just pootling along enjoying the experience.

Sea Rex - The World's Largest Pliosaur — Sea Rex – The World’s Largest Pliosaur

I think possibly the best adventure was travelling the Kimmeridge to see the Sea-Rex. This is a skull of a pliosaur which was discovered in the cliff face of the Jurassic Coast. There is a BBC programme about it and this was most of the reason we visited this place. The display was really nice and we even got to see the Steve Etches at work in the lab. We had lunch at the pub opposite and then drove to Tyneham. This village was suggested as a place to visit by one of the workers in the Etches Collection.

Tyneham is an abandoned village. Everyone was relocated during the second world war and have never been allowed back to live. There’s a big local campaign but it hasn’t got anywhere so far. It was interesting to see. My most interesting piece of information was that when the village was compulsory purchased all the money went to the “squire” as he owned all the property. The villagers were given only the value of the vegetables in their gardens. I see most of the world in terms of a class struggle between the poor and the wealthy. This classically highlights this struggle that is a very long way from being resolved.

On the return from Kimmeridge and the Jurassic Coast we drove past a shop selling pretty cool outdoors and biking stuff. So we hung a quick u-ey and visited that place. I would recommend Guardhouse Sports to you. I bought the Legend her birthday present. While packing away and getting ready to return I saw some nice aircraft heading to Bournemouth airport ready for their airshow. There were a couple of RAF Tutors and then, the most gorgeous Saab Draken and Viggen of the historical flight. I’m not sure I’d seen these flying before so it was great to see them.

It was lovely to be away. Such a relaxing time.

August 20 2024

East Kent

I went camping for a little while in east Kent and saw some of the cool things they have over there in the far east. We went to Lydden Hill to see rally-cross which was really exciting, lots of races over 4 to 6 laps. We watched the film Borderlands, to be reviewed. We visited The Wonderworks by Hornby – a place where the history of building toys is on display. Also a trip to the RAF Manston Museum, which was nice, lunch in the Royal Victoria Pavilion which was super quick to be served, and dinner at Bella Amalfi where I met the owner who looked a LOT like Jean Reno, the actor.

Also over the weekend we played Catan, Outsmarted, flew the kite and threw an Aerobie.

September 9 2023

Tanks And The Forest

Towards the end of my summer period of “not-work” I went to the New Forest with the families. The weather was medium for most of the time allowing shorts and t-shirts but it did get chilly overnight in the tents. The campsite was Hollands Wood which was quite large but maximum occupancy levels were enough to keep it feeling quiet. Driving through the moors was very interesting – the idea that this level of wilderness exists in the south of England was surprising.

One of the reasons the New Forest was chosen was that it was on the way to the Tank Museum at Bovington. People in my house play War Thunder and while it’s not my game of choice they are both pretty good at tank recognition – I am not. The number of tanks, the history, the show, the arena, all made for an excellent visit.

Sherman Tank - Fury - Bovington Tank Museum — Sherman Tank – Fury – Bovington Tank Museum

I found it interesting seeing all the different tanks and I took a lot of photographs, but, I will admit that once I got home all the different tanks kind of blurred into one! A big heavy metal thing with a gun sticking out of it. The kids had a great time and loved seeing the tanks in real life. We all had a ride on a Vietnam was era troop carrier, it took us around the arena a few times and was great fun if dirty and noisy!

Tracked Personnel Carrier - Bovington Tank Museum — Tracked Personnel Carrier – Bovington Tank Museum

I guess I’ll try and find another place like this for next year. Something with planes, trains and automobiles.

July 18 2019July 25 2019

Cold War Jets

In around the year 1988 my friend and I travelled to the back garden of someone in the village of Mildenhall to camp for the weekend. The purpose was to spend the weekend at the Mildenhall airshow, which I had been to before but was important for a few reasons:

Aircraft
Military aircraft
Military might
Blackbird
More planes

When you are a plane nut then airshows are where you get your kicks. I can’t help what I like and planes have troubled me all my life. It’s possibly due to growing up underneath the flight path of Stansted Airport in Essex. It could be because of my dad who was involved in the industry when I was young or it could just be that an aluminium tube filled with people and fuel doesn’t really have any business being six miles up off the ground.

Somehow Alan and I had found the number of someone who lived near a walk-in entrance to RAF Mildenhall [actually a USAF base] and we had booked to camp in her garden. Then, each day of the show we walked in. My memory of the charges is not great but I seem to think we got in for something like £5 each whereas a car for the day was £40. I suspect those prices are wrong given what prices were like in the 80s but I can’t remember. I do know it was dirt cheap to walk in to the show rather than drive.

There’s only a few things I can remember from the airshow. I sort of remember the Blackbird flying, it was a privilidge to see that. I also remember both AB and I watching a helicopter display, possibly an Apache, when it did a form of a wing-over or loop. Both, AB and I were amazed and clapped. There weren’t many who joined in the clapping, only those in the know.

The Red Arrows were there, of course, I I’m not sure if this was before or after I had been to Cyprus, porbably before and so I was still excited by them. The above photograph was beautifully timed by me.

My father must have found the original negatives of these photographs as he has scanned them inot his computer. I suspect there are some more picture lurking in a box somewhere and I’ll have to keep scanning his computer to see what I can find.

Here are some more photographs from those days. They aren’t very good but them photographs weren’t back in the 80s. I wasn’t great with a camera and with only 24 or 36 shots on a reel of film you were very limited in what you could take.

Sea King @ Mildenhall
Harrier, A-10 and A7 [?] @ Mildenhall
F-5, F-16, C141 and AB @ Mildenhall
EF-111 [?] @ Mildenhall
SR-71A @ Mildenhall
Phantom @ Mildenhall

AB and I had a great time at the airshow. It was a really good experience and well worth the camping and entrance fees. I do feel it’s a bit of a shame that the number of airshows has decreased over the years, but these beasts were probably also a show of strength during the cold war. They were interesting times and maybe I should be glad we don’t currently need massive forces to prevent mutual destruction [it feels like it’s heading that was again though].

Addendum: I have had confirmation of aircraft types from a US source:

A7 is indeed an A7D and it will have been a Lynx you saw display rather than an Apache.
— Richard O (@richouss) July 25, 2019

August 14 2018August 14 2018

528km – Part 1 The Lakes

Just over a week ago I drove to the Lake District to spend some time camping and walking. My main objective was to escape the 30C heat in the South East and replace it with more normal 20C temperatures in the mountains, well, in the valleys anyway. I camped at Burns Farm camp site and it was well sited, within the peaks of Latrigg, Blencathra and Clough Head.

In this picture you can see Latrigg and my tent highlighted with arrows.

That first night I drove up to the Under Skiddaw car park and walked the little way to the top of Latrigg. It’s nice to see the lakes from this angle and gaze down on Keswick. Then I drove into town and walked along the banks of Derwentwater. It is so easy to take gorgeous photos of this lake in the sunset.

So, on the Sunday I got up and made coffee in my new cafetiere I bought solely for camping trips. The coffee was nice. The previous day I had checked out parking spots for my Sunday walk and I had decided to park at Thirlmere village hall car park where the parking was £2 for the day and the footpath I was planning to use started at that spot. When I got there on the Sunday though there was a notice up saying that the car park was being used for a private event for two days. So I headed 500m back and parked at Legburthwaite Car Park which turned out to be free!

I headed up the mountains via Stybeck Lane and then up towards Brown Crag. Brown Crag isn’t an official Wainwright Fell and so while pretty it doesn’t count towards my total.

Brown Crag. pic.twitter.com/7Fk82Juh7u

— Ian Parish (@iparish) August 5, 2018

From there I walked up towards Whiteside [number 84 by height 2317 ft]. From there it was a reasonably simple ridge walk to the following listed mountains, I used my walking poles for the first time and I found them useful for the open trekking rather than steep climbs.

Raise [number 12 by height 2889 ft]
Stybarrow Dodd [number 21 by height 2770 ft]
Watson’s Dodd [number 40 by height 2584 ft]
Great Dodd [number 19 by height 2807 ft]
Calfhow Pike – not on the Wainwright list
Clough Head [number 74 by height 2381 ft]

I wasn’t sure I was going to complete the last two peaks because there was a very long walk back to the car if I completed those. As it was I chose to do them anyway and the walk back hurt but was nice and fun.

The view from Clough Head was quite stunning.

There were two choices for the route down Clough Head, one along a very clear footpath [when seen in satellite view] and one down a steep scree path which is much steeper but shortens my walk back by some distance. After chatting with friends I chose the red scree path and it was fine. It was quite steep and thin but it was easily passable. In the picture above you can see a little of the bottom part of the path.

Once I got back to the car I drove the short distance to The Lodge In The Vale and had a lovely Persian cake with a cup of tea. It was very much deserved.